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What Is Assistive Technology?
As families prepare to have a child, they spend a tremendous amount of time dreaming about the future of their child. Do the dreams cease if the child is born with developmental challenges? No, of course not!
Many parents never considered the possibility of having a child with a developmental delay, yet they must forge ahead. Parents continue to strive to help their child attain his or her greatest potential. They seek answers about how to best help their young child. Although families often have professionals by their sides, they must remain the driving force behind the generation of goals for their child's growth and development. The family is the constant in the child's life--educators will come and go, but the family remains the life-long case manager and advocate. One of the tools which can be utilized at home, school, and in the community to meet these goals is assistive technology.
What is assistive technology? Assistive technology is any item used to help a person be more independent whether it be a large keyed telephone or a device which will speak for the child with a disability. The use of assistive technology can empower a youngster with developmental delays to actively participate in the same situations in which his or her non disabled peers or siblings partake.
Shawna is nonverbal, but she still has a voice--she uses an augmentative communication device to converse with her friends and family. She has not always had a voice however. There was a time when Shawna would whine a lot until she received the item she was seeking--this was fine at first but then she and her family needed a more efficient means of communication--all were becoming frustrated!
Shawna began pointing to objects. This was fine until she wanted something which was not within her view. She progressed to photographs of real objects, people, and places. She carried around a little book full of pictures and when she wanted one she would open the book and point to it. After the photos, she began using more abstract pictures called picture symbols. Again she carried a communication book around with her to point to items. From there she began using devices which spoke when she selected a picture symbol on the device--and that is how Shawna got a voice!
Shawna has low tone and poor fine motor skills which inhibit her from turning on the battery-operated bunny or radio which her brother Dante enjoys so much. Via the use of a single switch and a battery adapter, Shawna can operate the toy. Not only does she learn that she has some influence upon her environment, but also that she can do things that others can do too.
In addition, Shawna may see Dante coloring, and want to join him, but holding a crayon is difficult. What can she do? She can use a computer equipped with a touch screen, a color printer, and a drawing program to create her own masterpieces to hang upon the frig right next to Dante's. When Dante begins to learn his alphabet and starts writing letters and words, Shawna can too! Shawna can use a computer, expanded keyboard, and any software which allows her to type letters and whalla--she is writing just like Dante!
Shawna and Dante have their own dreams and goals, and may have to attain them using different tools, but they both can attain them and live happy and productive lives. In addition, their parents will have goals for each of them, and the fact that Shawna has a disability is a challenge rather than a barrier to those dreams.
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